A day after Gray entered rank one he went to his study to learn about professionals and their ranks. Aside from them being divided into ranks that reached rank ten he didn't know much else. He could have asked Ruberno but he tried to keep his image a mysterious leader.
The meditation system was indeed divided into mages and knights. Knights used mana to strengthen their bodies while mages used mana to strengthen their hearts and minds to enable them cast such complicated spells. Meditation was a way to take in nature's mana to be used and stored into the body. This act of storing mana in the bodies sustained it's vitality and lengthened lifespan making low tier ranks which is upto rank three live for upto two hundred years barring any injuries. Mid tier ranks lived for upto four centuries and high tier almost double that.
As for rank ten little is known but it is speculated that they could live for almost thousand years. Low tier ranks absorb mana and use them to fight whether by use of spells or physically but mid tier ranks undergo a transformation in which their mana cores elementalize and become somehat tainted with the mana characteristic that they have been exposed to. This makes it easier for them to absorb mana due to the attraction between their cores and nature's mana. Thus their storage of mana increases exponentially making it quite a feat to breakthrough to rank four and requires both time and accumulation.
Breaking through to rank seven required full elementaization of the core and this full elementaization creates a resonance between nature and their cores enabling them to use to some degree nature's mana to strengthen their attacks. This resonance also enables them short distance flight and the time depends on the rank and strength of resonance they have with nature. As mages get stronger they use more complicated spells thus making their attacks stronger but knights get stronger in the literal sense by strengthening of their bodies through a gradual process starting by strengthening their body then their senses followed by their organs . Strengthening of organs occurs in the high tier ranks giving knights a higher survivability.
This was all he had learned from the study though some he filled in the gaps himself with some books he had so kindly borrowed from the dukes study though he kept them in his palace to avoid a lot of questions. He suddenly heard a knock at the door and a second later his father entered the study looking like he wanted to speak to him so he closed the book he was reading.
Antony saw the the book he was reading and sadness overwhelmed him and he took a minute to regain his composure. " I have some things to get your opinion on. There is a beast tide about to erupt in the Infernal dutchy and unlike the past it seems to be on a different scale just by the preparations they are doing. So it's going to be a tough battle and some residents are evacuating cause some beast might slip past the defence lines and cause trouble in the dutchy and the might be unable to contain it. I'm almost releasing the servants from their duties so that they can go see their families and make arrangements. I want to send you to the capital with your brother what do you think? "
" Can I even make it to the capital? Even if you try to make it smooth as much as possible, the journey will be rough as am sure bandits are lining the roads leading to other areas of the kingdom especially the capital. You do not know for sure that something bad will happen and even if it does we won't be the first to bear it's brunt am sure the city guards will be protecting the city so no need to worry. Life is too short to worry about eventualities."
Hearing he's son now he knew that he could sense the state of his body and infer the rest. Healing his body was not something he had means to do. Though a successful merchant in the county but even he had his limitations. All he could do was watch as he son's life slipped away. Perhaps if he was not born crippled things could have gone differently but all those were the mistakes of his youth and looking back he never knew his limits and know karma was rearing it's ugly head reminding him it was all his fault. After talking for a little bit more he took his son to the garden whilst he went to make arrangements for the estate. He would have to send his eldest son away to keep his sister company in the capital while he stayed back and looked after the youngest. He owed him that much atleast. If it came down to it dying peacefully rather than in agony was a better option.
Containing the beast tide especially with undead involved also fell on the church as well. The religion of the Evergreen kingdom was the Evernight church. Small kingdoms that were this far away from the Empirial capital were largely dominated by one Church as their populations were to small for any co sharing like some of the bigger and stronger kingdoms but still as somewhat a place where they drew their faith any damage to the kingdom would be a responsibility shared by the Bishop and priests assigned to the kingdom.
Territorial disputes were a different issue as who ruled was not their concerns as all them were still ants in their eyes as long as the mortal deaths were beyond a certain threshold but events that threatened annihilation of the kingdom were in their responsibility to prevent unless special circumstances. So the church knights were also deployed to help in the defence of the kingdom against the beast tide . The number was a delicate math between trying to prevent too much loses to the church forces as they were assets of the church, not to be used the Bishop pleased and making enough of an effort so as not to shoulder blame for losing a territory but the Scarlet duke leveraged the artifact that was clearly a divine artifact for dispatchment of more troops.
Such involvement if other religions in the empires affairs was a direct challenge to the existing religions in the empire and such information could get someine promoted either in strength or status.